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State Life Score

Alaska

Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade C, 24th percentile of the national corpus.

44.2
Life Score / 100
C
Grade (curved)
#39
of 51 states
24%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog

The verdict

Alaska is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #39 of 51 (44.2/100, grade C, 24th percentile). Carried by environment at 100/100; held back most by safety at 2/100.

24th
composite percentile
#39
of 51 peers
25th
cost dimension percentile
84th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · LOWER · ENVIRO-LED

Alaska at a glance

Alaska is a LOWER-band ENVIRO-LED state: environment leads at 100/100 while safety drags at 2/100 (DEAR cost · PEAK wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Alaska ranks #39 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #38 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Alaska sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

44 24th percentile higher than 24% of 51 US states

25–30: 1 US states (2%). Below this entry. 30–35: 2 US states (4%). Below this entry. 35–40: 4 US states (8%). Below this entry. 40–45: 6 US states (12%). This entry sits in this band. 45–50: 10 US states (20%). Above this entry. 50–55: 12 US states (24%). Above this entry. 55–60: 10 US states (20%). Above this entry. 60–65: 4 US states (8%). Above this entry. 65–70: 2 US states (4%). Above this entry. This state 25 70 every US state, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data

Dimension detail

How Alaska scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 26/100 (20%)
Wages 86/100 (20%)
Rent 28/100 (15%)
Safety 2/100 (15%)
Schools 62/100 (10%)
Childcare 11/100 (10%)
Environment 100/100 (10%)

Read with Alaska

Nearest composite peers and cost poles (LOWER · DEAR/PEAK).

New Hampshire

ABS(composite) peer at 43.7 (Δ 0.5 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/PEAK.

Rhode Island

ABS(composite) peer at 45.3 (Δ 1.1 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/PEAK.

Tennessee

ABS(composite) peer at 45.3 (Δ 1.1 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/PEAK.

Florida

ABS(composite) peer at 45.6 (Δ 1.4 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/PEAK.

Colorado (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 24/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's DEAR.

Oregon (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 22/100 (Δ 4); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's DEAR.
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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets, current as of 2026. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare